Chapter 342: Fooling me? I'll let you shoot yourself in the foot! Use Jinglue's strategy to conquer the Wei Kingdom from the north!

This sentence stumped Chen Deng and Zhang Fei.

Why do we conclude that it was the Qin army that invaded?
Wasn't it clearly written in Huo Jun's military report that the Qin army invaded Hongnong, burned, killed and looted?

The two looked at each other with blank eyes.

Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong's eyes moved, as if they were suddenly alerted by Xiao Fang's reminder.

"Let me ask you again, if you were Cao the thief, and you learned that we were planning to attack Wei, would you be secretly relieved and be glad that the king did not attack the fake Qin? Or would you invade our border counties and provoke our Great Chu for a little profit, thus causing the king's wrath?"

Zhang Fei was speechless, scratching the back of his head with a confused look on his face, and he hadn't yet come to his senses.

However, Chen Deng had already heard the loophole in the whole matter from Xiao Fang's words, as well as the implicit implication of Xiao Fang's words.

"What the Prime Minister is saying is that the invading Qin army is not the Qin army, but the Wei army disguised as crossing the river south from Hedong County?"

Following Xiao Fang's guidance, Chen Deng made such a guess.

Without waiting for Xiao Fang to express his opinion, Pang Tong suddenly saw the light and sneered:
"Not only are the invading Qin troops disguised as Wei troops, but the rumors in our country that Cao Cao and Yuan Shang have formed an alliance and intend to attack Nanyang and Luoyang must have been deliberately spread by Wei."

"Tong Dadou speculated, is it possible that the Prime Minister was speculating that Yuan Shang was afraid of our army's attack, so he resorted to such despicable means to arouse our anger and guide public opinion in our country to attack the fake Qin instead?"

Zhuge Liang nodded slightly and then said:

"Once our army changes its strategy and attacks the Pseudo-Qin in the west, it will inevitably be blocked at Tongguan, and the stalemate with the Pseudo-Qin will turn into a protracted war."

"Then Yuan Shang will have enough time to stabilize people's hearts and secure his throne."

"He can also take advantage of Hebei, especially Jizhou's population advantage, and recruit and train 70,000 to 80,000 new troops within half a year to make up for the loss of 100,000 troops in the battle of Henan."

"At that time, our attack on Qin was not going well. When we turned around and wanted to attack Wei again, the pseudo-Wei had recovered and had enough troops to defend the Yellow River!"

Wolong and Fengchu pointed out the hidden meaning behind Xiao Fang's words.

Only then did everyone suddenly realize.

"So it was Yuan Shang, the young boy, who was playing a dirty trick. Damn it, this kid is so insidious that I almost got fooled by him!"

"Prime Minister, you must be clear-minded and see through that kid's tricks. Otherwise, wouldn't we be led by him by the nose?"

Zhang Fei, who had come to his senses, cursed Yuan Shang and gave Xiao Fang a thumbs up.

Chen Deng also realized it, and with a look of shame on his face, he said self-deprecatingly:
"The Prime Minister has a sharp vision and is thoughtful. I am ashamed to say that he is inferior to me."

"I never thought that someone in Wei would come up with such a trick for Yuan Shang. I don't know who did it."

"This plan is so cunning and sinister that it doesn't seem like something Ju Shou and Tian Feng would do."

"As for Shen Pei, although he is Yuan Shang's favorite minister, he is selfish and has no strategy, and it is even more impossible for him to come up with this strategy."

"Could it be that there is another powerful figure in the pseudo-Wei Kingdom?"

Chen Deng counted the famous counselors in Wei State, but for a moment he could not think of anyone who had this ability.

Xiao Fang had not thought about this at first, but after Chen Deng's reminder, he suddenly became alert.

My thoughts were racing, and a familiar name suddenly flashed through my mind.

"Could it be that that guy couldn't stand the loneliness and finally jumped out to stir up trouble..."

Xiao Fang muttered to himself.

Liu Bei suddenly realized and became curious, so he asked:

"Jinglue, have you guessed who came up with this sinister plan for Yuan Shang?"

Xiao Fang immediately put away his thoughts and smiled disapprovingly.

"I am just guessing. There is no solid information yet, so it is difficult to jump to conclusions."

"But no matter who gives advice to Yuan Shang, even if he is the resurrected Sun Wu, it cannot change the trend of Yuan and Wei's demise!"

"Moreover, this person's suggestion might actually backfire and accelerate the fall of the Pseudo-Wei!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was shocked and all looked at Xiao Fang in surprise.

Everyone understood the first few sentences, but Xiao Fang's last sentence confused everyone.

What does it mean to shoot oneself in the foot and accelerate the demise of the Pseudo-Wei?
Not to mention Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong and others were also confused.

"Jinglue, what do you mean by this?"

Liu Bei asked immediately, his confused eyes mixed with deep expectations.

Xiao Fang strolled leisurely and stood in front of the sand table again, gently pointing with his feather fan:
"Your Majesty, if you want to destroy the pseudo-Wei, the direction of your troops is naturally to cross the river and head north, with the army heading straight for Yecheng!"

"If Yecheng is captured, the people of the Pseudo-Wei will lose their morale and collapse completely."

"Whether it's Jizhou or Youzhou, the four states of Hebei are nothing but a waste of resources."

"So the key to destroying Wei is to capture Yecheng."

"If we want to capture Yecheng, we must first break through the Yellow River defense line!"

Xiao Fang's feather fan was moved from Yecheng to the Yellow River.

"Going north from Xuchang, there are roughly three ferry crossings on the south bank of the Yellow River. From west to east, they are Yanjin, Baima, and Puyang."

"Among them, the route from Baima to Yecheng in the north is the shortest, so it is naturally our first choice for crossing the river."

"And on the north bank directly opposite the White Horse is the important town of Liyang of the Pseudo-Wei."

"This city is not only the core of the pseudo-Wei Yellow River defense line, but also the gateway to Hebei and the barrier of Yecheng." "Then how to capture Liyang becomes the key to kicking open the gate of Hebei and capturing Yecheng!"

Liu Bei and his ministers nodded slightly, their eyes all focused on the important town on the north bank of the Yellow River.

"We know the importance of Liyang. Yuan Shang also knows the importance of Liyang and will definitely station a large number of troops here."

"And according to the existing intelligence, his brother Yuan Tan is indeed stationed in Liyang City with nearly 30,000 elite troops."

"If our army crosses the river to attack Liyang, Yuan Tan will certainly ask Yuan Shang for help. For the sake of the overall situation, Yuan Shang will most likely temporarily put aside his grudge against Yuan Tan and lead his main force south from Yecheng to join forces with Yuan Tan to prevent our army from crossing the river."

"Although our army has a military advantage, it may not be easy to cross the Yellow River and quickly capture Liyang."

"If we fail to capture Liyang quickly, this battle to destroy Wei may become a protracted war, with the troops waiting outside the city of Liyang."

"We chose to attack the pseudo-Wei first because we didn't want to waste our troops at Tongguan and end up in a stalemate with Cao Cao, giving Yuan Shang a chance to recover."

"If we fight in Liyang now, what's the difference between that and fighting in Tongguan?"

After hearing Xiao Fang's analysis, Liu Bei nodded repeatedly and agreed with it deeply.

"If our army stalemates with the pseudo-Wei in Liyang, it will give Cao Cao the opportunity to take advantage of it."

"According to our previous analysis, Cao Cao is very likely to take advantage of my attack on Wei to march south to destroy Liu Zhang and take over Shu."

"Cao Cao took the opportunity to occupy Yizhou, which is within our acceptable range. The only worry is that by the time Cao Cao has occupied Yizhou, we have not yet destroyed Wei."

"This will give Cao Cao the opportunity to return to Guanzhong and intervene in the battle in Hebei."

"Once this happens, we may face a situation where we have to fight on two fronts, and our strategy of attacking Wei may be abandoned halfway!"

"So it is indeed crucial to quickly capture Liyang and open the gateway to Yecheng."

Zhuge Liang also came to the sand table and pointed to where Liyang was.

"Jinglue and Kongming are right. How quickly we can capture Liyang is indeed related to whether the attack on Wei can be successful..."

Liu Bei nodded heavily, but suddenly remembered something and looked at Xiao Fang fiercely:

"Jinglue, you just said that Yuan Shang would shoot himself in the foot. Could it be related to the quick capture of Liyang?"

Be it Zhuge Liang or Pang Tong, they were all reminded and their eyes were once again focused on Xiao Fang.

There was a hint of cunning in Xiao Fang's eyes, and he smiled and said:

"If we want to quickly capture Liyang, our only chance is to catch Yuan Tan off guard and prevent him from asking Yuan Shang for help!"

"Yuan Shang's army has no time to go south, and my army of more than 100,000 can easily cross the river. How can Yuan Tan defend Liyang with only more than 30,000 soldiers and horses?"

Catch Yuan Tan off guard?

So that Yuan Shang would not have enough time to go south to rescue Liyang?
Liu Bei and his ministers looked at each other with surprise in their eyes.

If you want to attack Wei, you have to mobilize the entire country's troops. An army of hundreds of thousands is marching towards the Yellow River. Even if Yuan Tan is blind, he can hear the noise of thousands of troops gathering on the other side of the river just by his ears.

At that time, Yuan Tan realized that they were going to attack in a large scale, so how could he not ask Yuan Shang for help?
Everyone was confused.

"This brings us back to Yuan Shang's strategy."

"He went to so much trouble, isn't it just to lure us into attacking Qin? Then we should take advantage of his trick and pretend to march west to attack Qin, so that we can openly gather troops."

"Once my army is assembled, we will suddenly..."

After laying the groundwork, Xiao Fang no longer beat around the bush and slowly laid out his plan.

The suspicion on Liu Bei and everyone else's faces gradually turned into enlightenment, and then from confusion to surprise.

"brush!"

Liu Bei suddenly jumped up, rushed to the sand table, looked up and down, and his face became more and more excited.

"boom!"

Liu Bei hit the map hard with his fist and laughed:
"Great plan! Jing Lue's plan is really out of this world and absolutely brilliant!"

"Throughout the history of the world, only you, Xiao Jinglue, can come up with such a brilliant plan!"

There was an uproar in the hall.

"So that's what the Prime Minister said, letting Yuan Shang shoot himself in the foot!"

"This plan is truly a brilliant one that is beyond the comprehension of even the gods and ghosts!"

Pang Tong sighed with admiration, his mouth was full of praise and his eyes were full of admiration.

Chen Deng also suddenly realized and bowed to Xiao Fang:
"Prime Minister Jinglue's military tactics are unprecedented in my life. He deserves the title of a sage of strategy!"

"Once the Prime Minister has come up with this plan, how can the fake Wei not be destroyed!"

Faced with everyone's admiration and praise, Xiao Fang just smiled and turned his gaze to Liu Bei.

At this moment, the worries and fears on Liu Bei's face had disappeared, leaving only absolute confidence.

Liu Bei turned around suddenly, walked back to the throne, turned around and looked at the ministers, and said with a proud smile:

"You all already know the Prime Minister's strategy of turning the tables on the enemy. I don't need to repeat it again."

"Pass on my order. Within one month, mobilize all the troops of the Great Chu, use Jinglue's strategy, and march north to destroy Wei!"

(End of this chapter)